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A presidential election was held in El Salvador between 13 and 15 January 1919[a] when Salvadorans elected their next president to serve a four-year term from 1919 to 1923. In the election, Jorge Meléndez defeated opponents Pío Romero Bosque and Arturo Araujo and was elected as the country's president; Alfonso Quiñónez Molina, the then-provisional president, was elected as Jorge Meléndez's vice president.
As the election approached, Quiñónez (the vice president) and Tomás Palomo (the minister of governance and finance) were the two most likely presidential successors to Carlos Meléndez (Jorge Meléndez's older brother), but Carlos Meléndez did not name a successor as had been done in prior elections. Both Quiñónez and Palomo sought to influence the outcome of the 1918 municipal election in order to benefit their 1919 presidential campaigns, however, Carlos Meléndez resigned on 21 December 1918 due to poor health and Quiñónez became the country's provisional president. Palomo withdrew his candidacy due to not wanting to run against the incumbent president, and Quiñónez also withdrew due to a constitutional restriction on him running for election.
Quiñónez installed Jorge Meléndez as the National Democratic Party's presidential candidate, but his candidacy was challenged by landowner Arturo Araujo of the Salvadoran Laborist Party (PLS). Jorge Meléndez and Quiñónez had Supreme Court president Pío Romero Bosque announce his own candidacy and proceeded to rig the election so that Jorge Meléndez would come in first place, Romero would come in second, and Araujo would come in third. Jorge Meléndez and Quiñónez assumed office in March 1919 as president and vice president, respectively, and their political dynasty would continue to rule El Salvador until 1927.
- ^ Pan American Union 1919, p. 364.
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